The Tracy Daughters
by criminally charmed
Summary: Five Songfics featuring the women I had the Tracy sons marry in my Tracy Family series. Canon characters are there as well, of course. Tin-Tin is now up and the series is complete.
1. Chapter 1

**The Tracy Daughters**

**_Disclaimer - I do not own Thunderbirds or the song, Stealing Cinderella by Chuck Wicks. Oh, and as whenever I talk about Kate's family, I do not own Numb3rs._**

**_This is part one of five, which is about the Tracy Daughters(-in-law). I am not going by order of introduction or even marriage. This will follow the birth order of the Tracy Sons. A big part of these stories is the relationship - or, in some cases, lack of - with the women's fathers. These relationships had a big part in the making of who the would become. In Kate's part, she was always Don's little girl, loved and protected but was still subject to pain. She was always part of a dynamic, loving family. This made her the perfect person to assume the role of big sister to the Tracy Brothers. So here is Kate's story._**

**Part one - Kate Eppes Tracy**

Scott Tracy fell in love with Katherine Eppes practically at first sight. He had met the FBI agent when she was helping to rescue his baby brother, Alan, from a former Tracy Enterprises employee just days before Christmas. Kate, who had been injured during the rescue, came back to Tracy Island for the holiday. By the time she had left a few days into the New Year, Kate had accepted Scott's marriage proposal.

_I came to see her daddy for sit down man to man  
It wasn't any secret I'd be asking for her hand  
I guess that's why he left me waiting in the living room by myself  
with at least a dozen pictures of her sitting on a shelf  
_  
Between Tracy Enterprises and International Rescue – well, mainly IR – Scott was pretty busy until the beginning of February. The few chances Scott had to see Kate were when he had to go to the Aeronautics Division of Tracy Enterprises, located in San Francisco, the same city that Kate was currently assigned to with the FBI. But on this weekend, Kate was in Los Angeles, where Scott met her. Don Eppes, Kate's father, was there that weekend as well. The current Director of the FBI, he and her mother had returned to the west coast from D.C. for a series of meetings.

Don knew why Kate had insisted that Scott be invited to dinner that night. The two had made plans to meet with some of the younger generation of Eppes but for now Kate was in the kitchen helping her mother with the last minute preparation of the meal. Don had chuckled when he heard his only daughter grumbling to his wife. She wasn't fooled for a minute that her mother needed help.

Having been in the small office he kept at the house, Don had heard the bell ring and Kate's voice blended with a deeper one. Scott Tracy had arrived.

The younger man was a good person. Don had seen the man with his family. He reminded Don very much of the protective, loving manner he himself had always shown his own family. Like Don, Scott had been thrust into a primary caretaker role when his mother had died. But while Don's mother had died a long painful death from cancer, when Don and his younger brother, Charlie, were already adults, Scott had been a teenager when his mother was killed in an avalanche while the family was on vacation. From rumors that had been spread as well as things that Kate had said, Don knew Scott had become a primary caretaker for his younger siblings, especially the baby of the family, the now fifteen-year-old Alan.

Don also knew that the boy had been deeply troubled from the incident at Christmas. But Kate had admitted that she had spoken to him about the incident as well as a similar one she had suffered when she was only nine. To this day, Don had to remind himself daily that Kate had survived her brief abduction but almost fatal shooting by a drug lord that Don had sent to prison years before.

Approaching the living room, Don realized that Kate had left Scott alone. _Probably not her idea, _he thought wryly. His wife would know that Don would want to talk to Scott alone. Oh, yeah. He knew what the younger man wanted to ask. Scott Tracy had mainly been raised in the heartland America, not far from his grandparents' farm in Kansas. He would be entrenched in old-fashioned manners enough that he would want to ask for Don's blessing to marry Kate. Don had noticed the ring on Kate's finger. It wasn't large or flashy. But it was classically designed and obvious older. He strongly suspected that Jeff Tracy had made sure his oldest son had been given his mother's engagement ring. If he remembered correctly, Jeff had still been in the space program when he married. As a government employee most of his adult life – after a brief stint as a minor league baseball player – Don knew the pay wasn't the best. That ring was probably paid for in installments.

Watching Scott, Don knew the man could probably have afforded to give Kate something flashier. But he had chosen to give Kate a link to his past as they entered the future. Scott was a young man who knew the value of family, a person who knew what was important in life. Don should be comforted by that. Seeing Scott examining pictures in the living room, Don smiled as he felt the memories wash over him, memories of his baby girl growing up.

_She was playing Cinderella  
She was riding her first bike  
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight  
Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin  
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him  
In her eyes I'm Prince Charming  
But to him I'm just some fella  
riding in and stealing Cinderella_

There was the picture of Kate dressed up as Cinderella in the school play. While Scott could see how lovely she had looked in the costume, he didn't know how a seven-year-old Katie had cried because Pammy Walker had pitched a fit, saying Katie Eppes couldn't be Cinderella because of her dark hair and the fact that she was Jewish. Even though Don had never been as devout as his father in the Hebrew faith, he was never ashamed of his heritage and had made sure his children knew the family history. It had been Katie's first brush with intolerance and Don's first lesson that he couldn't protect Katie from the big, bad world.

Pulling himself from his dark thoughts, Don returned to watching as Scott picked up yet another picture. He knew that was the one of Katie riding her first bike. It had actually been a hand-me-down from her oldest and only female cousin, Maggie. But having recalled how much his oldest son had dinged up his brand new bike, Don was determined not to give either of his other children a bike until they could actually ride one. Don knew in the picture, Katie's braids hung out from her helmet and the five-year-old's tongue was poking out the side of her mouth as she concentrated on the task at hand. You couldn't see Don running behind, except in the shadow that followed the kindergartener as she approached the spot where her doting Grandpa Eppes waited with his camera, capturing the moment.

Don could hear Scott's light chuckle as he set the frame down and pulled another one up. An accordion frame, it held two pictures. One showed a three-year-old Katie, bouncing on the bed, swinging a pillow nearly as big as she was at the heads of her two brothers. It was one of the first times Katie had taken on the boys. _And, _he chuckled silently, _it wouldn't be the last._

The second picture in the frame was one of all six Eppes grandchildren. Their grandfather had taken the picture of the kids after a Fourth of July BBQ. Popsicle stains on their faces, the children were all in bathing suits, running in and out of the sprinkler that had been set up in Charlie's backyard. Don and Charlie had always been glad that their children were close. Growing up on the same street, the kids had frequently cut through the backyard of the house in-between. It was a good thing that eventually Maggie had bought that house. It would be a hard sell with the path they had cut through the backyard – or the fence they had rigged to slip through.

Don was just about to make himself known to Scott when the younger man picked up the photo Don kept next to his favorite recliner. In the days after Katie had been shot, while she had slowly recovered from her physical injuries, she had pulled further and further away from her father. Don had bitterly accepted that on some level his baby girl had blamed him for her injuries. While it had only taken a few months before Katie had physically recovered from her trauma, it had taken years for her emotional recovery. That picture had been at the father-daughter dance when Katie was fourteen. She had yet to experience the growth spurt that would put her on an eye-to-eye height match with her father. Katie had still had to tilt her head back to look up to Don. That picture captured a time in their lives when Katie had once more adored her beloved Daddy. But it still made him a little sad, as he recalled how so many of the other girls had worn their hair piled up or swept to the side. Even today, Katie would wear her hair loose or gathered at the base of her neck – so no one could see the scar that haunted Don as much now as it had the day she had gotten it.

_I leaned in towards those pictures to get a better look at one  
When I heard a voice behind me say "Now, ain't she something, son?"  
I said "Yes, she quite a woman"  
and he just stared at me  
Then I realized that in his eyes she would always be  
_

"Katie sure is something else, isn't she, Scott?"

Scott jumped when he heard Don Eppes' voice behind him. He had been fascinated by the glimpses into the life of a young Kate. Drawing himself up, he responded to Don's question. "Yes, sir. She is a remarkable woman. You should be proud." Scott became unnerved as Don just cocked his head and looked at him. What had he said wrong? Looking at the way Don smiled at the pictures of a young Katie, he recalled her words to Alan that, "There will always be some people in your life who won't see you as an adult. To them, you will always be a little kid who needs their love and protection. And if you love them, you'll silently grind your teeth, swallow a smart-ass remark and know that they are only doing it because they love you so much." Scott knew that much as he would always see Alan as the little boy he had helped raise, Don would always see Kate as his baby girl.

_  
Playing Cinderella  
Riding her first bike  
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight  
Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin  
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him  
In her eyes I'm Prince Charming  
But to him I'm just some fella  
riding in and stealing Cinderella  
_

"Sir, I know Kate and I haven't known each other all that long…"

"Less than two months."

Scott almost gulped out loud at the sharp retort but steeled himself. _"Anything worth having is worth working for," _echoed Jeff Tracy's voice over the years. But he knew having her father's blessing meant everything to Kate – thus making it important to Scott as well.

"Mr. Eppes, I never believed in love at first sight. And I am not going to say I knew I wanted to marry Kate the moment I saw her. Actually, I think she spent a lot of that night wanting to shoot me. I was incredibly stressed, we didn't know where Alan was and then we figured it out and that whole mess…I know we owe Kate our lives. And that isn't why I want to marry her," he said quickly, seeing Don's annoyed expression. "But it did make me want to get to know her better. And I did know by the time she was to leave the Island, I wanted to marry her. Kate accepted my proposal but she wanted…No, she needs your blessing. She might become my wife but I think we both know she will always be your little girl."

Don looked at Scott long and hard. He had known this was coming. He had known since he walked into Kate's hospital room that night and saw Scott kissing his daughter. And when Colby had let slip to Don that Kate had begun the paperwork to resign from the Bureau, he was relieved that his daughter would be safer. But finding out she would be going to work for Tracy Enterprises had made him wonder. Then when he had hugged his daughter as she met them at the airport yesterday, Don had quickly caught sight of the ring on her left hand. So her announcement that Scott Tracy would be joining them for dinner tonight, had made Don aware of what would happen. It was inevitable that Katie would eventually fall in love and marry, and Don was glad that the man she had chosen was one that was worthy of her…

But it didn't mean he had to like it.

_Then he slapped me on the shoulder  
And he called her in the room  
When she threw her arms around him  
That's when I could see it too_

Kate ran from the kitchen when Don called her name. Pausing at a point between her father and her fiancé, Kate saw the broad grin on Scott's face and looked over at Don. Seeing the bittersweet smile on his face, she knew he had given his blessing. She also knew he was aware that she would be moving even further away than New York and how hard that was for him to accept. But because he loved her, because he wanted what was best for her, he had given his blessing.

She had never loved him more.

_She was Playing Cinderella  
Riding her first bike  
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight  
Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin  
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him  
If he gives me a hard time  
I can't blame the fella  
I'm the one who's stealing Cinderella_

**A/N - If you like, please review...Emily will be up tomorrow. Thanks to my beta, Sam1, for her unending patience. And if you are reading my story Payment in Kind, chapter two is up and chapter three will be up by Thursday at the latest. - CC**


	2. Emily Haas Tracy

**The Tracy Daughters**

**Part Two - ****Emily Haas Tracy**

**_I do not own the Thunderbirds or the song _****_While You Loved Me_****_ by Rascal Flatts. So go sue someone with more money than me. That would be almost anyone._**

Gerald Haas looked at the paper with so much sadness, so much remorse, that it threatened to choke him. An article in the paper detailed how a severe tropical storm had claimed but a few lives instead of the hundreds it could have. Part of that was in thanks to the Thunderbirds. But a bigger reason so many people were alive was the person detailed in the story – Dr. Emily Tracy. The woman had coordinated relief efforts, made sure sanitary conditions were met and – through a blend of strong-arm tactics and sweet-talking – pulled in medical supplies and personnel from around the world. Looking at the picture of the exhausted physician, leaning against her equally exhausted husband, he smiled as bittersweet tears fell from his eyes.

"_Oh, my baby girl. Why wasn't I stronger? Why did I let your mother hold so much sway over our lives? Why did I never tell you that I loved you, that I was proud of you? That from the moment I saw you, that I held you, you had a piece of my heart no one ever could?" _At times Gerald wondered if that was one of the reasons his wife Susan had been so cold to their daughter. She certainly hadn't acted that way with their son Reginald. But from the moment of Emily's birth, the child could do no right in her mother's eyes.

He could clearly recall the night Emily had been born. Susan might have complained loud and long, but Emily's birth had been easy and straight forward. His wife hadn't even seen fit to inform Gerald, simply leaving a message with his secretary to call when his plane landed. Emily had already been born when he arrived at the hospital. Standing in his wife's room, Gerald had heard her cold statement that it wasn't her fault that their second born – the "spare" to the "heir" – was a girl. But, she responded, perhaps the child could be molded to be a proper debutant. Abruptly quieting when the nurse arrived with the newborn, Gerald had stepped in when it looked as if Susan was about to decline to hold her own child. Taking his daughter into his arms, he had stared, bemused, at perfection in miniature. She looked so much like his mother with her swatch of golden blonde hair and porcelain skin. The nurse had smiled at the sight, approaching only when Gerald had gasped. Looking up at the nurse, he had asked shakily, "Should her eyes be that deep a blue?"

The nurse had smiled at the baby the maternity ward was already calling the "cherub" for her angelic appearance. "It is unusual. But," she turned her smile on Gerald, "it looks like she has her daddy's eyes." The nurse had walked out, relieved that the baby girl who had enchanted the floor would have one loving parent. The mother was clearly a cold fish who could not spare a moment for her own child.

Gerald and Susan had only discussed boys' names. "What to you think of Elizabeth?" he asked, wanting to honor his own mother.

"And have people call her Betsy or Bessie? Those are names for farm animals, not a future debutante of the year. But we can do a name with an E. Emily should do nicely." Not wanting to start a fight with his wife, Gerald had agreed. Besides, Emily seemed to like the name as she cooed when her father called her it.

_If I ever write the story of my life  
Don't be surprised if you're where it begins  
Girl, I'd have to dedicate every line on every page  
To the memories we made, while you loved me_

Gerald rarely got to spend much time with his daughter. He had become a senior partner at the firm and he was forced to spend much of his time at work. Gerald had trusted Susan to care for their home and children. It shouldn't have been much. Reginald was away at boarding school most of the year and Emily had a nanny. It was her nanny who had insisted that the child was unusually bright. Any attempts to talk to Susan had been rebuffed. The woman had sacrificed her position when she secretly took Emily to be tested and gave the report directly to Gerald.

Emily was – to put it simply – a genius. Her IQ was somewhere over 180. Toddler dance classes and deportment school were replaced by special tutors and a school for gifted children. A new au pair was employed, one who escorted the child to and from the lessons. Susan threw herself into her charity work. She refused to discuss their daughter as if the child had some kind of social disease instead if a gifted mind. Attempts by Gerald to discuss her or spend time with Emily were disrupted by Susan. At the time, she had maintained that Gerald would distract Emily from using her gifts to the fullest. Later, Gerald saw how Susan had been carefully disintegrating any true bonds between the father and daughter. He wondered now, if he had known what was happening then, he could have kept his daughter's love.

_  
I was born the day you kissed me  
And I died inside the night you left me  
But I lived, oh how I lived  
(I lived)While you loved me_

The years that followed passed quickly. Emily tore through her learning the way most children would through candy. Gerald did his best to try and talk with Emily, did what he could to be a loving father. He was sure Emily knew how much he loved her, how proud he was of her. But as the girl went away to school – which, having gone to Columbia for pre-med, wasn't until she was in her teens – Gerald was not consciously aware how much damage Susan was doing to their relationship until it was too late.

Emily never complained about her treatment by her family. It simply wasn't in her to do so. Gerald treasured the few times he was able to spend with his daughter. Times when he would take her for an ice cream, or simply a walk in the park. It was always during the school day or occasionally on the weekend. Times when her tutors thought she was in the library studying. Anything else was discouraged by Susan, his wife insisting that Gerald was taking time from Emily's studies. He often found it odd how much she insisted Emily study as much as possible yet the way Susan never discussed what the girl was studying or mentioned it to others. And he certainly did not know until it was too late how his wife berated or mocked Emily when he was not around. Oh, he heard the tone of voice Susan used, and how bitingly she spoke with Emily. But Susan did that with many people. It would be too late when Gerald realized how Emily was truly being treated, how her mother had tried to force Emily into a mold the child wouldn't was only after Emily left Manhattan to become a resident at Boston Medical Center that Gerald began to recognize the amount of damage Susan had done. With Reginald already in school by the time Emily was born, Gerald had not seen how there was almost no connection between the siblings. Gerald had visited Emily repeatedly when she was attending the accelerated medical school and internship program at Yale. It was easier to get away to Connecticut than it was to Boston. He would try and assure himself that Emily was simply busy. He would be relieved that she had a strong relationship over the last few years with her maternal grandfather. Susan had been raised by her mother and stepfather, even using her stepfather's name. Her birth father had been as wealthy as her stepfather but preferred living quietly in New Hampshire to what he called the "Madhouse" – New York City. While Susan's mother had found it "quaint" at first, she quickly fell out of love once she realized it wasn't a "phase" on his part. Susan shared her mother's views and had never been close to her father. Gerald would later almost smirk when Susan discovered the fallout of her father's will. David Hebert had left his entire estate to Emily. He never knew what annoyed Susan more: that the ill-favored child had received such a large blessing or that their daughter had given half the estate away. He suspected she would have given away more but the terms of her grandfather's will simply wouldn't allow it.

_I'd start with chapter one, love innocent and young  
As a morning sun on a new day  
Even though I know the end, Well I'd do it all again  
'Cause I got a lifetime in while you loved me_

What Gerald did know was that this was the time when he saw how much damage had been done. Emily had left the northeast, taking off for Los Angeles and a position on the trauma team of Cedar-Sinai. Susan seemed content at this, until word came back that Emily had begun to date a fellow doctor. That the doctor was a brilliant, young cardiac surgeon was not a problem. That his mother came from India was mildly disconcerting to her. The fact that his paternal grandfather was Jewish was appalling to Susan. Gerald did not find out until Susan returned to New York from "nipping this is the bud" how upset Emily had been. The next thing Gerald had known, his daughter was no longer even living in America. She had taken a position in New Zealand.

It would be while Emily was living in a foreign country that they would receive word that she had married. The message had been brief. Emily had married a man – he was a writer, she said – whose family lived "on an island north of Auckland". She gave no other details, and her mother had a junior associate at the law firm contact Emily with the offer of arranging an annulment and her return to New York. Repeated refusals by Emily made Susan rant – in the discretionary location of their townhouse – of how Emily was "embarrassing the family with her misalliance". Fifteen weeks after being notified of Emily's marriage, their daughter contacted her mother directly. Informing her that she would be in Manhattan in a few days, Susan began to plan strategy as if a general planning for war.

Later, Gerald discovered Susan's strategy and was appalled. When Emily once more refused an annulment, revealing that she was pregnant with her husband's child, Susan – having suspected this was the reason the usually laid-back Emily was pushing for the meeting – had presented her daughter with an ultimatum: divorce her husband and have an abortion, or face being disowned and disavowed. Emily had refused and, joined by her husband's sister-in-law, had presented Susan with a document of their own. Susan had signed it, acknowledging the Hass' would have no claims or contact with the former Emily Haas, her husband, the husband's family or any children born of the marriage. Ironically, it was only then Susan discovered that the "native writer" Emily had married was astronomer and author John Glenn Tracy, second son of billionaire Jeff Tracy. Susan had ranted for days about how Emily had "tricked" her and how her new sister-in-law – ironically, the younger cousin of the "unsuitable" physician Emily had dated in L.A. – had practically gloated when revealing just who Emily had married. Gerald would discover a few months later that he had become a grandfather the same way as the rest of the world. He read it in the paper.

_I was born the day you kissed me  
And I died inside the night you left me  
But I lived, oh how I lived  
(I lived) While you loved me_

Years flew by. Gerald threw himself into his work. He later would meet one of Emily's brothers-in-law. Gordon Tracy attended few society events. Gerald probably attended fewer. The younger man somehow recognized who Gerald was and, in the course of a casual conversation, showed him a picture of his daughter's family. Emily was still married to John and they had two children now, Elizabeth and Keith. It was only then that Gerald had discovered that Emily had nearly died in giving birth to her second child. Apparently, she had inherited the problems her paternal grandmother had suffered from. Gerald recalled with great sadness the mother he had lost when she became pregnant again when Gerald was six. Both she and his baby sister had died when labor came in the eighth month. The discovery of how much Susan had cost him, not to mention her current attempts to curry favor with the Tracy Family, left him angry and frustrated. When she died soon after, Gerald was surprised that he was not a prime suspect. But by that time, Gerald had found it hard to care what happened to his wife.

More years would pass. There would be the occasional bit of news. Gerald drank any hint of his daughter's life like a man lost in the desert drank from an oasis. Because they were Tracys, he discovered that his grandson had briefly worked with the newly formed International Space and Exploration Organization before going to work for his paternal grandfather; that his granddaughter had joined Tracy Enterprises and was considered the heir apparent. He learned that she had married and, when Jeff Tracy suffered a heart attack, it had been Elizabeth, young as she was, who had been named as President of the family business.

Not long after, Gerald, now retired, the highlight of his day being going to a nearby café, saw a young woman on the street. Convinced it was Emily, he tried to approach her, only to clasp a hand to his chest in pain. The woman, seeing his distress, called 911 and gently spoke to him until the paramedics arrived. Unable to speak past the pain, Gerald had watched in dismay as the young woman, assured that the man was being cared for, turned and walked away. Gerald had, however briefly, been allowed to meet his granddaughter. It was with that comforting thought the he passed away enroute to the hospital. Elizabeth had never even known that the stranger she had comforted on a sidewalk in Manhattan was her grandfather.

_I was born the day you kissed me  
And I died inside the night you left me  
But I lived, oh how I lived  
(I lived) While you loved me_

_**A/N - I hoped that Emily would have learned how to love from someone. Obviously, it wasn't from her mother. But Gerald would regret his lack of action in regards to Emily. His silence cost him an unbearable price. Thanks for reading, Sarah's story is up tomorrow and as always, review!!! - CC**_


	3. Sarah Woodbury Tracy

**The Tracy Daughters**

**_Didclaimer - Unless I missed the memo, still do not own. And I also do not own the song_ _The Greatest Man I Never Knew by Reba McEntire. It is one of my all time fave songs, as it seemed to echo my father and I's relationship for years. But I was lucky. My dad has had the chance to say "I love you" and "I am proud of you." It only took him thirty years. Not bad for a man._**

**

* * *

**

Part Three - Sarah Woodbury Tracy

Sarah sat quietly in the rental car on a small side street in an equally small town outside of Kansas City, Kansas. She had lived the first sixteen years of her life here. She had nearly died here in a fire that had claimed the lives of her parents and sister. And it was here she had to deal with the past in order to go on with her future.

_The greatest man I never knew  
Lived just down the hall  
And everyday we said hello  
But never touched at all  
He was in his paper  
I was in my room  
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon_

John Woodbury was a good man. He had begun to work for Tracy Industries and had profited when the small company had become Tracy Enterprises. A corporate attorney, he could have signed on with bigger, more prestigious companies. But he had admired the drive and tenacity of Jeff Tracy. John had wanted to raise his children in the small Midwestern town his grandparents had been from, the town his wife was from. Annette's family had always been big fish in the small pond of the town's society. Rigid in their code of ethics, when their younger daughter Harriet went off to school in Boston, they rarely had contact with her. It wasn't until John married Annette that he discovered why. Harriet was a lesbian, which was unacceptable to his in-laws. John had never felt it was his place to interfere. But he quietly kept Harriet in the loop as to their life, sending bits of news and the occasional photo of first Holly, and then Sarah, after their births and as they grew.

Holly was beautiful, with the looks straight from the casting director for homecoming queen and head cheerleader. Annette constantly paraded their firstborn around, proud of their daughter's golden girl looks. Sarah, quiet and reserved, was very bright. But her glasses, braces and chubbiness made Annette favor her older daughter to the younger constantly. Annette never tried to take her in hand, never spoke of contact lenses or tried to get the child to lose weight. John suspected it was because how physically similar Sarah was to her Aunt Harriet. Did Annette really think that there was a "gay" gene, one that could be handed down along with the red hair and green eyes? John would never know._  
_  
_The greatest man I never knew  
Came home late every night  
He never had too much to say  
Too much was on his mind  
I never really knew him  
And now it seems so sad  
Everything he gave to us took all he had  
_

John thrived on the challenges his job with Tracy Enterprises gave him. He loved the travel and the work. But he also loved coming home. Sarah had become close to the Tracy family, closer, he suspected, than she was to her own. Jeff Tracy often mentioned his daughter, how she helped Virgil with his studies – they, along with Sarah's older sister, were in the same grade. He would also speak of how good Sarah was with his youngest son, Alan, often babysitting the boy when others in the family were busy. John had been shocked to learn that Sarah could sing from Jeff. He had no idea and from a passing comment to Annette, John had been sad to discover she had not known either.

It had been towards the end of the girls' Senior year in high school that John noticed a change in his wife's attitude towards Sarah. He had heard her speak with pride of her academic achievements. Always proud of her academically, John, and then Annette, noticed what Ruth Tracy – Jeff's mother – had been saying for years. Sarah was like a rose, ready to bloom. Annette made quiet plans to spend part of the summer helping Sarah to improve her physical appearance before college. They had agreed that it should be done discretely as Sarah may not appreciate that her parents wanted her to change her looks. But more importantly, they wanted to avoid the fall-out that would occur when Holly learned of their intent. Vainly proud of her status as the acknowledged beauty of the family, Holly had in fact pitched a fit when she discovered their plans. Sarah had been at the Tracys once more, spared her sister's tantrum. Secretly, John had begun to suspect more than just a temperamental beauty was behind Holly's attitude. It was only when Holly had gone to the prom – Sarah was babysitting Alan that evening – that John had convinced his wife to help him investigate. They had been appalled to discover drug paraphernalia. Not wanting to confront Holly with Sarah around, they planned to talk to her the next morning. John knew that Sarah would be at the high school, helping to set up for graduation. It was the perfect time.

_Then the days turned into years  
And the memories to black and white  
He grew cold like an old winter wind  
Blowing across my life  
_  
John and Annette had been killed in the fire that their oldest daughter had set that night in a drug-fueled rage. Sarah had been badly burned and taken first to Kansas City, then to Boston, by her Aunt Harry. Holly had died of her injuries a short time later, a victim of her own instability. Years later, Sarah would meet back up with the Tracy family. She had been a paramedic in Boston, and had in fact been treating Alan, the little boy she used to baby-sit; reconnecting herself with the family she had once been so close to.

Today, a physician's assistant in a clinic near Tracy Island, Sarah was happily married to Virgil. Placing a comforting hand on her burgeoning belly, where her firstborn was nestled in comfort, Sarah barely took note as Jeff, her father in all but blood, came up behind her.

"Your dad was very proud of you. He used to brag about you a lot. I know he loved you." Sarah nodded at the words as she stared at the empty field where her family home had once stood. She had never asked what happened to the property and had been unaware that Jeff had bought it and maintained the property taxes for years. He had given it back to her after her marriage and it was only now, as she and Virgil began their own branch of the Tracy family tree, that she knew what to do with it.

"I know my father was proud of me, Dad. I know he loved me. Everyone tells me so. But he forgot to tell the one person who needed to hear it the most." With that, Sarah let herself be helped back into the rental car and they drove away. As Sarah tried to hide her tears from her father-in-law, she stared at the sign now posted in the vacant lot.

"**Future home of the John and Annette Woodbury Memorial Home – For Families of Children in Need at Area Hospitals. Land donated by Sarah Woodbury Tracy, building funds from the Tracy Family Charitable Trust." **

_The greatest words I never heard  
I guess I'll never hear  
The man I thought could never die  
S'been dead almost a year  
He was good at business  
But there was business left to do  
He never said he loved me  
Guess he thought I knew_

**_a/n - OK, you know the drill. Julie's will be up tomorrow. I may be a bit late in posting, as I am working a part-time job in addition to my regular one (for the holidays) and I have to be at the mall right after my other job. But I will put it up, as well as chapter three of _Payment in Kind._ Thanks for the support and let me know what you think. - CC_**


	4. Julie Maxwell Tracy nee' Juliet Parker

**The Tracy Daughters**

_**I do not own the Thunderbirds nor do I own Bryan Adams' song Everything I Do, I Do It For You. But it was the song my husband and I danced to at our wedding.**_

**Part Four - Julie Maxwell Tracy (nee' Juliet Parker)**

Aloysius Parker knew the day he fell in love. It wasn't with his wife. She was a society darling from America who had gotten pregnant after a brief fling with Parker. He had been a jewel thief and his wife had found the thrill of being with a criminal to be exciting. Her parents had cut her off when she became pregnant by someone so socially unacceptable.

His wife was bored and frustrated with the life they lived. Before the baby came, Parker had taken a job working the docks. Being a dock worker didn't pay as well his criminal activities had, but Parker was determined to be there for his child. He knew the marriage would never last. But Parker had been sure if they were married, he would be assured a place in his child's life. And the moment Juliet had been placed in his arms, Parker knew the meaning of love at first sight.

_Look into my eyes - you will see  
What you mean to me  
Search your heart - search your soul  
And when you find me there you'll search no more _

Parker had come home from a long day of work to find his wife and daughter gone. At first he had thought they had merely run out on a brief errand. But the next day he woke to an early morning delivery. His wife's parents had come to London, and had apparently forgiven their daughter her discretion. In return, they had a ready-made grandchild. And now his only child was enroute to a new life in America.

In Parker's worst nightmares, he had never thought that his in-laws from Hell would block all of his attempts to have any rights to Juliet. Three years later, Parker had finally found a lawyer who had managed to get him a court date in America. Cautioned that he would probably not receive primary custody – Juliet's grandparents had assumed most of her care and were wealthy, connected individuals – Parker was willing to merely be assured a place in his baby girl's life.

But his three year battle had drained every ha' penny from Parker's account. He had no funds left and no money left to even travel to America, forget how much he owed the barrister. An old friend had suggested one last job-on-the-side, just to get him in the clover again. No one would ever have to know and Parker would have his to get his precious daughter back.

A week later, Aloysius Parker failed to show for his court appearance in Connecticut. When Juliet's grandparents' attorney gleefully reported that the reason for his failure to show was that he had been arrested for breaking and entering, the judge had not only declined to give him any visitation rights, but had stripped him of his parental rights completely. Parker was informed of that as well as of the fact that his ex-wife had remarried. He was told his daughter had a new father and he should simply forget her.

_Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for  
You know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you _

Parker began his prison sentence with a heavy heart. When he looked back years later, he could honestly say he recalled very little of that period of his life. All he knew was that he had lost his baby, his sunshine and the world was darkened by that knowledge.

It was towards the end of his sentence – not a long one, as the judge had been surprisingly lenient with him – Parker was called into the office of the Warden. A rather young lady sat in a chair and rose when she saw him enter. A golden vision dressed all in pink, she extended a delicate manicured hand and smiled as she greeted him. "Parker, my name is Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. And I have a proposition for you."

"All due respect, M'Lady, but the last person to say that to me was the reason I am behind these walls."

Even as the Warden growled, "Parker…" Lady Penelope merely smiled. "Actually, Parker, your choices led you here. I am giving you another option. I am offering gainful employment. I need someone to be a combination of chauffeur, butler and general work. This person must be able to show a great deal of discretion and is free to travel. As I understand it, you have no ties on the outside that would encourage you to travel the straight and narrow so I am offering you a chance at gainful employment. Your housing, meal and work related expenses would be fully covered and you will find the pay generous. It may not be the life of a thief but I believe you will find the benefits to be adequate and the risks considerably less."

Without his Juliet, Parker knew the aristocrat was right. Besides, having spent several years behind bars and aware that he had no chance now of getting his daughter back, the best he could hope for was that given time, he could be allowed to approach her when she got older and be permitted contact with his precious child.

_Look into my eyes - you will see  
What you mean to me  
Search your heart - search your soul  
And when you find me there you'll search no more _

In time, Parker came to be aware why Lady P required an individual who could show discretion. It seemed certain members of her family had a long standing tradition of working as agents for the British government. And then Lady Penelope began to have contact with a man with a vision; a man who would not only change their lives, he would change the world.

Jeff Tracy was best known as a former astronaut who had borrowed on his fame and engineering skills to build one of the most amazing – not to mention profitable – companies in the world. Sadly, the man was also the single father to five sons. His wife had died in an avalanche when his youngest child was only three. That boy, more than five years junior to his next sibling, touched a spot deep in his heart. Alan Tracy was "all-boy" as his mother would have phrased it, but he was a child with a good heart and his family treasured him. Having seen a picture of the boy's mother, Parker understood why, in part. The child looked a great deal like his mother. In the active, demanding life the family left, there was not always time for the little boy. As Jeff began the task of starting up International Rescue, and especially once the rescue organization was in business, Parker was occasionally borrowed to watch the little boy. He was often at a loss until he realized things he could teach the lad. By the time the boy was ten, Alan could pick almost any lock, hack into computers and drive a car. He could also make tea and was a passing good cook. It would always be with a smile that Parker would think of the boy. He was not his precious Juliet, but with young Master Alan, Parker found a bit of his heart healed as the child soaked up the attention like a sponge. But a part of him never stopped longing for his baby girl and he knew he never would.

Shortly after the incident with the Hood, as Parker watched with tear-filled eyes as young Alan received the approval and recognition the now teen-age boy had always needed, that Parker vowed to lay down the bridge work to reunite with his daughter. With Lady Penelope's support, he approached his ex-wife, asking that the woman give his contact information to their daughter. As the she-devil coldly reminded him that he had no claim to his daughter, Parker uncharacteristically found himself begging her to at least give Juliet the information when she turned eighteen. She agreed and Parker left, his heart lighter than it had been in years. But he would have been saddened instead if he had seen that as soon as FAB-1 was out of sight, she had burned the paper he had thrust at her and washed the remains into the garbage disposal.

_Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for  
You know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you _

Once more, time began to slip by. Other events occurred with the family he had come to love as his own. Some things were terrible – such as when young Alan was kidnapped or when he nearly died of a virulent strain of MRSA. Others – such as the older Tracy boys Scott, John and Virgil all marrying or the births of Scott's son Jason and John's daughter Elizabeth, were wonderful. But shortly before Alan fell ill in his Senior year of high school, Parker knew Juliet eighteenth birthday had occurred. And while he allowed the events of the Tracys' lives to distract him, nothing could stop Parker's heart from breaking with the belief that his beloved child was choosing to exclude him from her life. He could only pray that wherever she was, his precious Juliet was safe and happy.

_Look into my heart - you will find  
There's nothin' there to hide  
Take me as I am - take my life  
I would give it all - I would sacrifice _

Time continued to move on. Nearly four years passed. Alan married his childhood sweetheart, Tin-Tin and the pair moved to Boston to attend college. During that time, Scott had become a father again and Virgil had become a first time dad. Eventually, even John became a father again, for the last time as his wife nearly died giving birth to their son. The family was happy and Parker was pleased at how well the life of his adopted clan was going.

The only fly in the ointment was the fourth Tracy son, Gordon. Mind you, Gordon – a former Olympic swimmer – had suffered a terrible heartbreak years earlier when his girlfriend was killed in a plane crash. Even more tragic was the fact that the Thunderbirds had been called out on that rescue and the young woman had died in Gordon's arms. But then the family received what they considered a miracle. A young woman named Julie Maxwell.

Julie was, like Gordon, an Olympic swimmer. In fact, she had been in France for the Olympic Games when she was given the opportunity to "rescue a rescuer". When Gordon was sent, unconscious, into the waters off Calais in an explosion, it had been Julie who had dived in and pulled him to safety. Finding out that the young woman, who was entering her Senior year at Columbia in New York would be working a paid internship at Tracy Enterprises allowed the Tracys to try and pay the young woman back for her brave act. But in time, Scott's wife, Kate, an executive at Tracy Enterprises, came to care for the young woman she had taken under her wing. And when Julie saved Kate from a disgruntled ex-employee, it gave the oldest Tracy daughter-in-law the chance to do what she had been longing to: play matchmaker for Julie and Gordon.

_Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for  
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more  
Ya know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you _

Parker had accompanied Lady P to the Island for New Year's Eve. The only Tracy son not there was Gordon. Kate was bubbling in pleasure as she admitted that Gordon had flown back to Manhattan with Julie and that the two seemed to be hitting it off nicely. While Lady P looked at the pictures from Christmas, Parker found he couldn't. The name Julie was just too close to his own daughter's name. Instead, he allowed himself to be distracted by the news that Alan and Tin-Tin would become parents soon themselves. Parker silently wondered where his precious Juliet was. Had she attended college, was she in love? Could he even now be a grandfather? All Parker could hope for was that Juliet was safe and happy.

_There's no love - like your love  
And no other - could give more love  
There's nowhere - unless you're there  
All the time - all the way _

Then came that day in early May when Parker was called to the vid-phone by Lady Penelope. Gordon Tracy's face was awash with humor and happiness. It seemed Gordon had been looking for the perfect gift for his girlfriend, Julie, for her college graduation. And it now looked as if he had found it.

Gordon Tracy had decided to find his girlfriend's estranged biological father as a graduation surprise for the girl. Using contacts of his own father in the U.S. State Department, Gordon had broken through layers of red tape to find some long buried files. Cocking his head to the side, Gordon now asked, "So, Nosey, are you now or have you ever been a father to a little girl with ice blue eyes and caramel colored hair? Her name is Julie but she was born Juliet Frances Parker in London, England, to Aloysius and Camille Parker twenty-two years ago. Sound familiar?" Gordon had been at a loss when the usually solemn man had burst into tears. Finding out that his daughter had never been given the information, that her cold-hearted mother had never told Juliet how desperately Parker had wanted to see his daughter, had healed his broken heart.

_Oh - you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more  
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you  
Walk the wire for you - ya I'd die for you Ya know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you _

So now Parker sat in the small, upscale restaurant, _Trenia's, _a few blocks from Tracy Towers. Gordon often brought Julie here when the red-headed Tracy son was in town. As the couple entered the establishment, Parker was watching anxiously as the pair was greeted by the maitre'd. The older man felt faint. His breath was caught in his throat, probably held back by his heart. He would have known her anywhere. Oh, if only he had looked at the images of the Olympic athlete or the ones from Tracy Island instead of refusing because her name had been too close to his Juliet's. She was his late mother's image. Aloysius Parker would have known her at once. As the couple approached the table, Parker could see the confusion on her face.

"Julie," Gordon started, taking her hand in his, "I wanted to get you something very personal and very special as a graduation present. This is Aloysius Parker, a very old and dear friend of the Tracy family. I know you don't exactly remember him, but I think you will recognize the eyes – they are the same as the ones you see in the mirror every morning."

_Look into my heart - you will find  
There's nothin' there to hide  
Take me as I am - take my life  
I would give it all - I would sacrifice _

_Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for  
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more  
Ya know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you _

Looking at the couple, smiling and obviously in love, Parker felt the terrible weight lift from his heart. He had found his baby girl. She had never been told that Parker had been hoping to hear from her when she turned eighteen. Juliet – or Julie as the girl was comfortable thinking of herself – was a lovely, intelligent young woman. And seeing the happy look on Gordon Tracy's face, Parker felt his joy grow tenfold. Not only was his daughter in love with a wonderful young man who loved her back, but the family he had come to think of as his own would soon be complete. The last Tracy son was on his way to finding his own happiness.

_There's no love - like your love  
And no other - could give more love  
There's nowhere - unless you're there  
All the time - all the way _

When Parker had first discovered that Gordon Tracy had gotten his daughter in the family way without having married her, he had been ready to kill the boy. Even when it turned out that Gordon had eloped with Julie, Parker had not readily calmed down. His only child had been married in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator!

Only the knowledge that if he didn't accept his daughter's marriage – and any attempt to kill her husband – would keep him out of her life. Only that kept Parker's temper in reign. And now, standing by the twin cradles set up in the smaller villa that Gordon and Julie shared on Tracy Island, the man couldn't rid himself of the smile that seemed to be tattooed to his face. Less than two days old, Julie had insisted on leaving the infirmary in the main villa and coming home with her sons. Parker Sheppard Tracy and Terrence Alaine Tracy. Gordon had found a way to honor his baby brother with the middle names but Parker smiled at the way Julie had put her father's name as well as a nun from the convent school – a woman Julie viewed more as a mother figure than her own mother – as the namesakes for her sons.

Brushing a gentle hand over Terrence's auburn hair even as Parker clutched at his grandfather's finger, the older man could not stop smiling. For the first time since his daughter had been stolen from him years before, he was content.

His heart was healed and Aloysius Parker was whole once more.

_Oh - you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for  
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more  
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you  
Walk the wire for you - yeah I'd die for you _

_Ya know it's true  
Everything I do - I do it for you_

_**A/N - That was Julie's turn and it was a lot of what happened or was referred to in the story but this has it so it was told mainly from Parker's POV. I liked Parker and would have loved to see more of him. Review...thanks. - CC**_


	5. TinTin Kyrano Tracy

**The Tracy Daughters**

_**Disclaimer - Don't own Thunderbirds, don't own When You Say Nothing at All by Allison Krause.**_

**Part Five – Tin-Tin Kyrano Tracy**

Kyrano Belegant had lived a fairly basic life. He was the product of his father's second marriage. The elder Belegant had run a small shipping business, marrying the daughter of a local merchant, he had expanded his business and been pleased when his wife gave birth to his firstborn son, Trahn. When the boy was eight, his mother had died and less than a year later, the widower had remarried. Soon, Kyrano was born. Trahn had been resentful of the child he saw as a usurper and had openly despised his stepmother. While he had been the product of a "practical" business marriage, Kyrano had been born of a great love. Trahn was twenty-one and his brother ten when their parents died in an accident. The ferry they were on sunk, killing all sixty-five people on board. It would be years before Kyrano discovered that Trahn had arranged the "accident".

Trahn had full custody of his younger brother and had taken over the family business. Kyrano, who his brother mocked for being weak, was becoming increasingly concerned about the people his brother now openly associated with. He had begun to suspect that the business methods Trahn was using in his rapidly expanding "empire" were immoral at best and more than likely illegal. Kyrano counted the days until he could leave.

When Kyrano was eighteen, Trahn informed him that he had arranged his marriage. Horrified, knowing that his brother only wanted him to marry the girl to secure the dowry, Kyrano left their village in Malaysia. After making his way to Hong Kong, Kyrano found work aboard a cruise ship. All the years of having found a haven with the people his brother employed – for slave wages, was coming back to help Kyrano. He could cook, clean and do maintenance work. His late father's words came back to him – "Work done for honest wages is always honorable work."

Kyrano had two significant meetings while working on the cruise ship. One was with a fellow Malaysian. Onaha was a kind, loving girl who had taken a job as a maid on the ship in order to see more of the world. The couple quickly fell in love and married. The only thing that saddened those days was when Kyrano contracted the mumps from a passenger's child. The doctor informed them that the chances of them ever having a child of their own had been greatly reduced.

The second meeting that would change his life was when astronaut, Jeff Tracy and his wife traveled on the ship. The couple had come on a vacation with their three sons, not knowing that Mrs. Tracy was pregnant with what turned out to be their fourth son. Onaha was borrowed to help watch the boys as Mr. Tracy tried to deal with his wife's increasing morning (and afternoon, and evening) sickness. In between, Kyrano and Jeff often talked. Jeff had been surprised that such a well-read, informed man was working at such a job. It was only after the cruise, when Kyrano received a call from a five-star resort in Auckland that he discovered Jeff had recommended Kyrano for a job. Happily settling down, the Kyranos (as he had long ago switched his first and last names to distance himself from his brother) had been thrilled a few years later when they were told they would soon have a child of their own.

_It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart_

_Without saying a word you can light up the dark_

_Try as I may I could never explain_

_What I hear when you don't say a thing_

Over the years, Jeff and Kyrano remained in touch. The Tracys had yet a fifth child, another son, whom they would name Alan. A few weeks after that joyous event, Onaha gave birth to the Kyranos only child, a precious little girl named Tin-Tin, named for a fairy tale princess in a Malaysian children's story.

Kyrano also knew when Jeff's wife was killed in a tragic accident. A snapshot taken by the paparazzi at the funeral showed Jeff surrounded by his four oldest sons, while clutching desperately to his baby. The little boy, only three, was clinging to his father and crying. As he tucked his own three-year-old daughter into bed, Kyrano thanked the heavens for his own family and prayed that the Tracy family could survive this great tragedy.

Years would pass. Kyrano was now a manager at the resort, responsible for major purchases. It was not uncommon for him to have to frequently travel to the ports in order to take care of resort business. Many times, he would take Tin-Tin with him, often stopping to treat his little girl to an amusement. The child was always her parents "little helper" and loved nothing more than to work in a garden or help in the kitchen.

Later, Kyrano would be grateful when his daughter contracted chicken pox. It was due to the illness that she was not with him that day. The day when he left the ten-year-old with her mother while he went to Australia to finalize some purchases for the resort. As the man they were dealing with did not trust banks, the resort owners trusted Kyrano with picking up fifty thousand dollars from a bank in Sydney to complete the purchase. When neither Kyrano nor the money made it to the meeting, the shockwaves were felt throughout. While Onaha was certain her husband had met with foul play, the resort owners and the police believed the man had simply taken the money and run. For the first time since they had moved there, Onaha and Tin-Tin fell victim to the suspicion of "foreigners" that so many held.

Onaha and Tin-Tin spent the next six months, living in a small, run-down apartment, Onaha working a series of dead-end jobs. But whenever the police or the private investigators hired by the resort would come around, Onaha would find herself looking for another job. Their savings were quickly eaten up by the gaps in employment and Onaha's own attempts at finding Kyrano. The investigators she hired would take her money but produced no leads.

Tin-Tin wasn't doing much better. When they lived at the resort, Onaha had home schooled her daughter, with the aid of a satellite program. But since Onaha had to work and didn't feel safe with leaving her daughter with others, Tin-Tin was attending the local school. In a neighborhood where many of the children had at least one parent who had been or were in prison, the idea of Kyrano having "gotten away" seemed to inspire cruelty in her classmates. When Tin-Tin finally lost her temper and defended herself with something other than her fists, Onaha was desperate. She did not know how to deal with everything and the knowledge that her daughter had inherited her abilities from Kyrano's brother…After Tin-Tin cried herself to sleep again that night, Onaha sat at a table, fingering a business card Kyrano had kept tucked in a address book. It went against her nature to plead for help, but there was no alternative.

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me_

_There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all_

Jeff Tracy came within hours. He brought Onaha and Tin-Tin to his Island home. With everything that had happened, Onaha had been unaware that Gordon, the baby Lucy Tracy had been carrying on the cruise ship, had been involved in an accident. The boy, now sixteen, had been serving in WASPs. His injuries had been severe. Onaha helped by taking care of him, while Alan Tracy and Tin-Tin were of an age and studied together. The youngest Tracy had been away at school, along with the son of a Tracy employee who also lived on the island, a Professor Hackenbacker. While that son was still at a boarding school, Alan, for now, was at home.

In a few days, Jeff was able to discover more than Onaha had in months. Several witnesses admitted seeing her husband pulled into a car where a bald Asian man sat. They also said that Kyrano had seemed terrified at the sight of the man. Onaha knew there was only one person who truly terrified her spouse and that was his brother. But before Onaha could confess to Mr. Tracy about the criminal who was her husband's only other family, he was called away.

The Tracys, you see, were also International Rescue. Jeff Tracy and his three oldest sons ran the rescue organization. Word had come to them about the collapse of an illegal diamond mine in Malaysia. Hundreds of workers – perhaps even the mine owner himself – were trapped underground.

Late that day, the Thunderbirds returned. Tired and dirty, they were torn on the success of the mission. All 235 mine workers were alive but the mine owner, in an effort to evade the authorities called to the disaster site had attempted to leave by a secret exit. Unfortunately, when more of the mine collapsed, the man had been trapped. Jeff had wanted to try and get to the man, but Scott had made him see that to do so would place the workers and the rescuers in danger. They had left him behind. But Onaha had eyes only for one thing. As she held her husband, he whispered the truth in her ear. The mine owner had been his estranged brother. The monster had enslaved his own brother.

That night, after their daughter was asleep, the family secure in the knowledge that Kyrano's name was now clear, his brother dead and their future settled as they would now work and live on Tracy Island, the couple vowed to never tell anyone that the criminal behind it all had been Trahn Belegant and Kyrano's brother. For the sake of their daughter, they could not risk it. They felt some guilt at not telling Mr. Tracy, but as they watched their child sleep, the couple comforted themselves with the knowledge that to protect Tin-Tin it was necessary.

_All day long I can hear people talking out loud_

_But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd_

_Old Mr. Webster could never define_

_What's being said between your heart and mine_

Years passed. Gordon recovered and joined the team. Alan had long since rejoined Fermat Hackenbacker at a boarding school – or two – in the States. The rows between Alan and his father, when the former was home, were legendary. The ones between Alan and Tin-Tin were more subtle but clearly there. Watching the two children, now teenagers, bicker one day, Onaha smiled. Kyrano, having entered the kitchen while his wife was preparing dinner for the Tracys, was puzzled. "Wife, why does the sight of our daughter arguing with the son of the man we owe everything to seem to bring you pleasure. I thought you cared about Alan?"

Onaha chuckled lightly. "My husband, I do care about Alan. I love that boy as if he were our son, as I do young Fermat. Both of those boys need motherly love. What I smile at is that our daughter has met her match. Wait and see, some day those two will realize there are things for a young couple that is better than arguing."

Kyrano frowned. He loved – no _adored _– his only child. He also cared deeply for Alan. The boy was good-hearted but missed his family desperately when he was away at school. His wanting to stay on the island full time was the basis of most of the arguments the teen had with his father. But Alan was the son of one of the richest men in the world, a man who was an astronaut, decorated military and now secretly ran International Rescue. Tin-Tin was the daughter of that man's employees and, even if Jeff Tracy didn't know it, the niece of a criminal genius. Could anything come of a romance between the couple but heartache for his beloved daughter?

Before Kyrano could deal with that problem, a far bigger one arrived. His brother – now calling himself The Hood – invaded the island. Holding the Thunderbirds responsible for leaving him to die in the collapsed mine, he was seeking revenge. Finding his wayward brother was only a bonus to the man. But by the end of the day, the Hood was defeated, thanks in no small part to Alan, Tin-Tin, and Fermat. The sense of pride Kyrano had for the courage is daughter had shown was met only by the feeling of relief when Mr. Tracy told Kyrano he understood why he had never revealed his connection to the criminal mastermind. No matter how much Kyrano felt guilty about the monster who had nearly killed, at one point or another that day, the entire Tracy Family, Jeff had come to think of the Kyranos as family as well. And to Jeff Tracy, nothing was as important as family.

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me_

_There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all_

Another change came about after the result of the Hood's attack on the Tracys. Alan and Tin-Tin ceased to bicker as much. Kyrano had never been so relieved that Alan was often away at school and when he was home, his father had now made both Alan and Tin-Tin members of International Rescue. The teens were often too busy to spend as much time together as they would like.

But no one could stop destiny. The couple married before leaving for college in Boston, Alan to Harvard for dual majors of Engineering and English Literature; Tin-Tin for MIT and a degree in Software Engineering. When they returned for good four years later, Alan was already a published science fiction author and both were listed as employees of Tracy Industries in research and development. Both were also still Thunderbirds but Tin-Tin preferred to work with Professor Hackenbacker on improving the equipment and technology available to the rescuers. That was perhaps for the best as that summer, the couple became parents for the first time. As Kyrano held his baby granddaughter, Samantha, in his arms, he heard everyone remark on how much the child resembled Alan. And while Sammie was the image of her father and paternal grandmother, Kyrano could not help but see his own baby from decades past. Feeling the slight nudge in his mind, one that had disturbed him once from his brother but he knew comfort of in his daughter, Kyrano smiled. Physically, the babe was clearly marked as Alan Tracy's but she had silently acknowledged to her maternal grandfather that she was also of his lineage.

Several months later, the Hood returned. The man would die there at the hands of the eldest Tracy Son's wife, a former FBI agent, after the villain threatened the Tracy Grandchildren. But to Kyrano, his brother had died many years before and he did not mourn what was or could have been. Looking at his daughter and the family she was creating with Alan, Kyrano was at peace. Tin-Tin and the children she would give birth to were the future. As he once more felt the warm comforting touch of his daughter and granddaughter in his mind, Kyrano smiled. He was never a man to say much. And feeling the love of his blood kin as well as the family that had taken them in so long ago, he needed no words. He was surrounded by people who loved him, needed him and believed in him. For that, no words would suffice.

_The smile on your face lets me know that you need me_

_There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all_

**_A/N - I loved how Tin-Tin seemed to silently communicate with her parents. An extention of her powers or just a very closer family. oh, and the reference to Tin-Tin's name? I made it up, OK? So now slamming that for me. Well, this ends the daughters' stories. More of Payment in Kind will be up soon. Enjoy and review. - CC_**


End file.
